Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Kirkland & Ellis lays off associates nationwide

There was an epidemic of pink slips at Chicago's most profitable law firm last week.

The week before Labor Day, Kirkland & Ellis laid off associates at many of its offices, including Chicago. The firm has so far declined to comment about the layoffs but two blogs have reported the grim news.

Above the Law said Tuesday morning that the layoffs in Chicago affected lawyers in the corporate and intellectual property departments. The cuts included associates who had just completed their first year at the firm.

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a few dozen overpaid lawyers get laid off at a big firm and it makes front page on chicagotribune.com? what about the hundreds of thousands of regular people getting laid off every month? almost 800,000 in january to over 200,000 last month, so what makes this newsworthy? my company is laying off people everyother week and never got mentioned in the news.

Does 20 layoffs really warrant a headline in the paper? When companies like Motorola, GM, and countless others are firing in the thousands, we really should feel concerned about a dozen and a half overpriced attorneys?

I sure hope they get legislation passed that those new to the workforce, just beginning to pay off huge loans - such as for law school - can at least defer/modify those payments when they lose their jobs due to the economy - otherwise this sort of thing can drive people right over the edge.

I am sorry to hear the news. It must be discouraging to lose your job after so much schooling and preparation, student loans, clerkships, etc. Not meaning to diminish the pain of others also losing their jobs.... When will they begin laying off doctors?

Who needs intellectual property attorneys when the record labels have allowed P2P and illegal downloading of the artists music... not to mention what's going to happen to the film industry who's up at bat right now. The stealing of intellectual property has become acceptable. Forget the RIAA lawsuits, they're all hype. Do you really think that this young mother who was convicted of ripping a couple dozen tunes of the Net has the millions of dollars the industry won against her... no way - she has nothing, nada, zilch! Being in the music industry for decades and watching it's decline because of the corporate labels own stupidity is, well... rather depressing. Yet, music will survive and new revenue sources have and will evolve. But, does it surprise anyone that intellectual property attorneys would be let go? I don't think so. America has followed suit with the Chinese and many other countries where intellectual property has become valueless. So what is the point of paying intellectual property attorneys when the ethics and values of the masses have bottomed out? Not much in my book. As far as I'm concerned and many others in this industry, we're used to change and we'll deal with change. Yet...at the same time, that does not make it right. The writing was on the wall for IP attorneys, especially those just entering this area of practice. Do I like it? No. However, the ball is just starting to roll down hill ...music was first, now there's film, print is certainly becoming obsolete... it will continue. We now live in a society where IP is disposable ...and why should those who protect it feel they're not. Welcome to the new age of the digital generation. PS: I may come off as sounding bitter, but the reality is that I'm not. However, I am disappointed...

I'm not sure why everyone is so upset that this got written up. I've seen articles about similarly scaled layoffs at plenty of other places before. This is big news in the legal industry. These sorts of layoffs are almost unheard of.

Those of you posting "who cares" miss the point. Not only is this sad news for these individuals and their families, it is also a sad sign of the times that even a successful law firm like Kirkland and Ellis lays people off. No one should have to lose a job. It sends shock waves through their lives and their families. We should hope for the best for everyone, and keep our fingers crossed that the economy's apparent slow recovery is genuine.

If you can abandon for one moment your media-fed baseless hatred of lawyers dating back to comic strips in the '80s, you will realize that, despite the relatively small number of layoffs, this IS big news. Big Law does not historically layoff attorneys, and it could (a) mean that this is a sharkey firm that is using the weak economy to preserve partner profits or (b) it's more bad economic job news that will, eventually, affect all you folks who are whining about the reporting of this news. Think, folks, think.

Why is this news? There are thousands of attorneys in Illinois and in the United States who make about 4 to 5 times LESS than K&E associates who are unemployed, underemployed or are struggling to stay afloat in their practices, while trying to manage their daily living expenses such as food, family and student loans that make a mortgage on a lakefront mansion look sick. Several thousand more attorneys will be graduating from Illinois law schools in the spring and will be admitted to the bar in a legal job market swamped with an oversupply of attorneys.

There was a story in the tribune last year about attorneys that have taken on second and third jobs, including bartending, in order to survive. Tuition at law schools assumes that all of their law grads will all be working at firms like K&E when the truth is that its only a handful. If the Tribune really wants to be of service as an investigative news source, why not investigate student loans for law and graduate programs and why these programs cost so much money. Programs that cost $2000 per year 20-30 years ago now are pushing $$80 to $140,000 and more for the whole program at many schools and accrediting organizations such as the American Bar Association are so fearful of antitrust lawsuits that they accredit many schools that should not even exist while failing to police the ones that already do.

Debt financing already crippled the economy with sub-prime loans. Don't be surprised when, especially if we have a "jobless" recovery, for a massive wave of student loan defaults to occur. We push people to get degrees but urge them to ignore the costs involved by providing them with high interest loan packages backed by the federal government.

Reid is completely off base. While there are some instances of piracy of music and videos, iTunes, Netflix, and other similar media distribution centers have made it extremely easy and trustworthy for the majority of the population to acquire copyright protected media. The instances of mass file sharing was prevalent in the late 90s to mid 2000s because it was the easiest way to obtain music and to a lesser degree, video. However, with the before mentioned distribution centers making media readily available, people don’t have to worry about the quality or if the media includes viruses. There will always be instances of piracy but as long as the media is priced and available to the market, the majority of the market will opt to pay for it.

On another note, the Chinese have done an acceptable job recently in enforcing IP rights. Given a country of a billion people, it is extremely hard to stop illegal media distribution, but one has to commend their efforts to go against their culture and traditions to try. As more corporations values are determined by their IP, IP lawyers will become more valuable than they are today. Especially when in Re Biliski is overturned by the Supreme Court allowing business method patents again.

In regard to Kirkland, everyone knows they have been getting killed in securing IP cases for their litigation teams. Plus, their fees are too high to support any degree of patent prosecution because companies can get a much better product at a cheaper bill rate. Thus, due to the failure of their chief litigators in winning new business, they have cut their youngest attorneys. Given the strong demand for technical IP lawyers, they should have no problems finding a comparable position at a better situated firm.

Tim, dude, have you ever had an original thought, idea, or art work? If so, you'd know why anyone and their brother would want to steal it... if you like using your hands, not your mind at work, go ahead and diss these lawyers, but if you ever want to use your mind to make a living... I have a few friends who are now unemployed who would love to help you... keep up the blue color work, my friend...

I was laid off about 6 months ago. And it was definitely a tough time in my life. I hadn't been in the job market in many years - and now I found my self in a very competitive one.

One piece of advice is to have your resume professionally done. It is what gets you in the door with hiring managers. There are a number of services out there. They range in prices from $40 to $150. I went with a service that charged $49 and was very happy - so you don't have to spend and arm and leg to get this done. I do believe it was worth it to me. I am employed now and quite relieved! I wish the best for all others job hunting out there.

Do you know how much money a first year attorney at K&E makes?! Six figures, baby. No first year attorney should be making that much dough when all they do is document review. And the partners? Don't get me started on those greedy ba@tards. Big law is dead!

About this blog

This blog is a chronicle of legal news and events of interest to the business community. Business reporter Ameet Sachdev will take you inside the courtroom as well as inside the gilded hallways of America’s largest law firms. He has covered the legal and business worlds for over 15 years. Have a comment or tip? Write to chicagolaw@tribune.com. Ameet Sachdev bioBusiness news emailed to you dailySubscribe to BizWrap